Thank You

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What are your resolutions for 2013?

Bill Gross

Founder and Co-CIO, Pimco "I will be more concerned about the return of my clients' money instead of the return on it. 2013 will not mimic 2012 in stocks or bonds."

Daniel Kahneman

Nobel Prize winner, Economics; author, Thinking, Fast and Slow "I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. If you want to change, typically you have to change things around the structure of your life. If you resolve to diet, you can't just say 'I'm going to get thin.' You have to make decisions about what's in your refrigerator."

Dolly Lenz

David Ader

Head of interest-rate strategy, CRT Capital Group "I resolve (again) not to second-guess Fed policy. I may get bearish for the first time in 30 years in 2013."

Sean Egan

Managing director, Egan-Jones Ratings "To help crystallize discussion on the optimal path for overleveraged economies. Neo-Keynesian stimulus and Teutonic austerity have failed to achieve goals. Hyperactive monetary policy has deflected focus from problematic promises made in very different times."

Michael Thompson

Managing director, S&P Capital IQ Global Markets Intelligence "Finding the best place for decent yield without high risk—either corporate debt or dividend stocks."

Last Week: Review

At the Precipice

President Obama met with congressional leaders to avoid going over the fiscal cliff—the $600 billion of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that take effect on Jan. 1. Obama was "optimistic" a deal could be reached in time to keep the economy from tipping into recession. Senate leaders, who called the meeting "constructive," were working to craft a bill by Sunday. But Obama said he will push for a Senate floor vote if leaders fail to agree, to avert a tax increase. Ratings agency Fitch warned that odds rose it would strip the U.S. of its triple-A status without a deal. Stocks fell; bond prices rose.

Debt-Ceiling Dance

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter that the U.S. will hit the debt ceiling on Dec. 31, but that he would take "extraordinary measures" to delay—for about two months—a U.S. default.

No Yen for Currency

The yen fell 85.63 against the U.S. dollar, the lowest in 27 months, as fresh moves were seen from the Japanese government newly headed by Shinzo Abe. Japan's finance minister, Taro Aso, told Geithner by phone he worried about a yen rebound, and said the government will use monetary easing and other actions to fight deflation.

Let's Make a Deal

Toyota Motor
plans to spend $1.1 billion to settle a U.S. class-action suit over claims that millions of its vehicles accelerate unintentionally. The No. 3 auto maker in the U.S. market admitted no fault in proposing the settlement. Shares rose.

Nearing a Denouement?

A top Syrian diplomat went to Moscow to discuss peace proposals with an international envoy, as rebel fighters gained ground, and the commander of the military police and other high-ranking officers defected to Turkey.

Misery Hates Company

European markets fell as an early gauge of activity showed the euro-zone economy shrank for the third straight quarter in the final three months of 2012. The jobless rate in France hit a near 15-year high. But contracts for U.S. home resales hit a 2½-year high in November.

Stormy Weather

A major winter storm swept through the Northeast and the South, killing two people and forcing hundreds of flights to be canceled over the Christmas week.